Influence of parental guidance on teenage pregnancy among female adolescent secondary school student in Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of parental guidance on teenage pregnancy among secondary school female adolescent students in Abeokuta South Local Government Area. The instrument for data collection used for this research was questionnaire and the sampling techniques used for this study was descriptive survey research design.The study explored empirical studies of previous literatures, to examine the influence of parental guidance on teenage pregnancy; three hundred and fifty eight (358) respondents were randomly selected. The data collected were analysed using tables and percentages, mean and standard deviation. 52.24% of respondents are between the ages of 14-16 years while 21.50% of the respondents were in SSS2 class. Also, most of the respondents (58.1%) were Muslim. Majority of the respondents (55.9%) were afraid to discuss some sensitive issues with their parents while 96.1% of the respondents said their parents would not agree to use contraceptive pills and condoms to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease and also 67.9% of the respondents revealed that they received sex education through their friends, also 87% of the respondents lack the knowledge from parents. From the analysis of the data, parents have a unique position when it comes to parent-child communication, care and support, guidance and counseling and sex education, because parents are the earliest or first socialization agents in children’s lives. From the survey, it was evident that sex education is effective on adolescent but most of them do not have the knowledge. Adolescent need to be provided accurate and correct information about sex in order to form good attitude and belief towards sex. Conclusively, sex education should be part of school curriculum in order to educate adolescent. Parents should develop effective communication skill with their children, be their friends and have positive attitude towards sex.

Keywords: Teenager, Adolescent, Secondary school, Education, Parent, Guidance, Parental guidance, Sex